Compositions to promote the healing of skin ulcers and wounds

Abstract

The present invention provides compositions comprising as an essential feature granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) together with fosfomycin for the treatment of wounds, ulcers, sores, burns and other injuries to the skin or mucous membranes of the body.

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION[0001]The present invention provides compositions comprising as their essential ingredients granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and the antibiotic fosfomycin, for the treatment of wounds, ulcers, sores, burns and other injuries of the skin or membranes of the body. As such, it is relevant to the fields of dermatology and nursing care in the areas of medicine and surgery, traumatology and burns.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONWound Healing[0002]Wound healing is a normal feature of living animals and is a dynamic, interactive process which involves various types of cell and the extracellular matrix, depending for its speed and efficiency on various internal and external factors. The normal healing process can be described in terms of four programmed phases comprising 1) hemostasis, 2) inflammation, 3) proliferation and 4) remodeling.[0003]1) Hemostasis is the vascular response stage that occurs immediately after the insult and normally lasts for up t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0035]The advantage of combining GM-CSF with fosfomycin or fosfomycin in combination with other antibiotics is to exploit the known effect of GM-CSF to promote wound healing and the innate defense mechanisms against bacterial infection while further accelerating wound healing by more rapidly eliminating the infecting bacteria through the bactericidal action of fosfomycin, which ha

Problems solved by technology

Many factors may cause abnormal or impaired wound healing including prolonged failure to heal (non-healing wounds).

Such wounds have generally failed to progress through the normal stages of healing and often enter a state of pathologic inflammation due to the delayed, incomplete, or uncoordinated healing process.

Non-healing wounds result in enormous health care expenditures, with a total annual cost estimated at more than $3 billion in the United States.

Chronic ulcers reduce the quality of life and working capacity of the patient and represent a substantial financial burden to the health care system.

Venous hypertension secondary to various causes can damage the blood vessel walls and ultimately leads to skin breakdown.

Arterial ulcers are less common and are a result of impaired circulation